Booktalk #1

“There is an Arabic proverb that says:

 She makes you feel

 Like a loaf of freshly baked bread.

It is said about

 the nicest

 kindest

 people. The type of people

 who help you

 Rise.”

Twelve-year old Jude is one of these people. Jude is a young girl growing up in the increasingly volatile country of Syria. When the Civil War fighting gets closer to home, Jude and her mother are left with the difficult decision of leaving their familiar homeland and the rest of their family behind.  

Have you ever noticed how loud it is in America? How people move and talk way too fast?  These are the thoughts Jude has as she settles into her new home in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is living with an aunt, uncle, and cousin she has never met. Her English isn’t as good as she thought it was, and going to middle-school is difficult under any circumstances. Jude, who considers herself just an average girl, has to deal with the new label of Middle Eastern girl.  

Throughout all of this, Jude is a kind and thoughtful daughter and friend, who never loses sight of who she is. Now if only others could see her the same way.  (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Award, 2021)

Booktalk #2

We all have been in situations where we felt as if we did not belong. This is especially true for Jude. The growing violence in her homeland of Syria forces Jude and her mother to leave the rest of their family and friends to stay with Jude’s uncle in Cincinnati. Jude has always loved American movies and music and thinks her English is good. However, she finds that it is not as good as she thought when she starts school. Everything is so strange for Jude. The language, the customs, the clothing, the food, and even her uncle’s American family make Jude feel as if she does not belong. However, she does make new friends and finds new opportunities. Jude must decide if she can make a place for herself in America. This novel in verse makes it a quick read. (Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Awards, 2021)

Booktalk #3

Jude and her mother are forced to flee their home in Syria and live with their family in America, leaving her father and brother behind. Faced with a new language, culture, and customs, Jude strives to find her voice and her place in her new home. Realistic Fiction/Novel in Verse.  (Rhode Island Middle School Book Award 2021)

Booktalk #4

This novel in verse is the story of twelve-year-old Jude, who has moved to America from war-torn Syria with her pregnant mother, leaving her father and older brother behind. Now living with an uncle’s family in Cincinnati, Jude must not only cope with worries about her father and brother but come to terms with a new language and culture - and deal with anti-Muslim prejudice. And who says a Muslim girl can’t act in the school play? (Vermont Middle Grade Book Award, 2021)